It Was a Bad Plan
by DougGuns
Summary: Jake's plan to deal with Tom in the final battle had its flaws. What if things had gone differently?


"You're alive!"

{I noticed the same thing.}

"Weapons…no. Hold on."

"Sir?" The human Controller paused his reach for the fire controls and turned to glance at his mutinous commander.

The Yeerk commanding the Blade Ship stood still for a second, glaring in hatred at the view screen. The other Yeerks did not share his feelings towards array of morphed creatures visible on the bridge of their mother ship, but there was no denying the danger they represented. The weapons officer wondered what inspired the hesitation in the commander. With the firepower of a capital warship at their disposal, they were a threat to be reckoned with, but crippled as the Pool Ship appeared it be, it looked like the best opportunity to rid themselves of the Animorphs once and for all.

Of course, that was the rub, as his human host would say. The weapons officer realized he had long since got over the belief in the Andalite bandits. Once the truth came out, it was easy to see patterns that made sense in the known behavior of the Animorphs. Their sentimentality, their relentless prosecution of certain campaigns and their indifference to other actions the Yeerks took. Their first priority was the defense of Earth. _The defense of _Earth…not _the defeat of the Yeerk Empire_…

Maybe if left alone, they'd be content to let the Blade Ship go. The Andalite fleet was on its way and might do the Yeerks' job for them. _Or better yet, let those arrogant, meddling Andalites try to make Earth into their poor cousins, let them try to keep humans in their place as they did the Yeerks._ Somehow, the weapons officer believed, the Animorphs would no more stand still for that than they had for the Yeerk assimilation of their species. He almost wished he could watch the Andalites lurching about trying to contain an insurrection of morph-capable humans.

Not that he was ever likely to get the chance. There were only two viable options for the band of mutineers who had taken the Blade Ship and were now prepared to commit the ultimate treason by firing on the flagship of their assigned force. Either continue their planned attack run…or not.

The reason for attacking the Pool Ship was multi-purposed, and possibly rendered irrelevant by this new development. The Pool Ship alone had the capability to destroy the Blade Ship or impede their escape. The Pool Ship contained their vengeful former superior officer, Visser One, who would hunt them down to the death for their betrayal. And by attacking the Pool Ship, all Yeerks aboard the Blade Ship would be irrevocably committed by that singular act of treason against the Yeerk Empire. Those old sludge-suckers back on the Homeworld would never take any of them back after that, so the crew's loyalty would be committed to their cause of independence for good. No one would be tempted to backslide or betray the officers for a chance to return home, because it would mean death by Kandrona starvation for the crime of betraying the Empire, betraying a superior officer, waging war against a Yeerk flagship and betraying the superiors of the mutinous Blade Ship as well. You could get away with a lot in the Yeerk Empire, but treason that harmed the Empire directly was not in the cards.

However, if the Animorphs had control of the bridge, the Pool Ship was highly unlikely to be capable of preventing the Blade Ship renegades from retreating to z-space and searching for a new home. Firing on the Pool Ship was no longer an irrevocable act of hostility against the Yeerk Empire, it would now be a respectable elimination of a lost asset…especially with what looked like the entire pool flushed into space. Any Yeerks now killed on that ship would be acceptable collateral damage, for their failure to protect the Pool. And with the Andalite fleet due to arrive at any moment, perhaps there were better uses of the mutineers' energies.

As he watched his commander, the weapons officer could see the same thoughts playing across his expressive human features, with one addition. The hatred for his host body's brother, the leader of the Animorphs, whose actions had nearly doomed the commander to one of the visser's more whimsical executions on any number of occasions. All the valid reasons to change their plans might not weigh as much as the visceral desire to blast that human and his comrades into atoms.

"Sir." The weapons officer spoke again, this time, with a note of warning, rather than inquiry in his tone. The commander cocked his host's head to attentively return the look. "Do we have time for this? The Andalites are coming. Let them destroy the Pool Ship or not. If they can take the Visser, whom they call 'Abomination' alive, they will not care about a single Blade Ship escaping for quite some time. And these humans may irritate them sufficiently to keep them tied up on Earth as well."

"You are right, my friend," the commander laughed. "You always give good advice. There is no passion or hatred, just direct and ruthless logic, in your counsel." He turned to the human controller manning the helm, and gave orders to bring the Blade Ship about and move to z-space as soon as possible.

"So long, little bro!" he called out as the screen changed from Visser One and the Animorphs to the empty space ahead as they prepared to take the Blade Ship out of the solar system, for good and forever.

{Wait, no! Rachel!} A voice sounded in the weapons officer's head. It was much like the way Visser One spoke through his mouthless Andalite host… and the way beings in morph communicated. From the reactions of the rest of the bridge crew, they heard it as well. Telepathic morph communications could be directed at a limited number of people or as a general "shout" to all sentient beings in range. The latter had been the preferred mode of the Visser, but the Andalite ban - the Animorphs had preferred to keep their communications private when in contact with Yeerks. Until now, for some reason. That last call had come across as they had closed down communications with the Pool Ship, and the weapons officer wondered if it was related to their aborted attack. The Animorphs had obviously eluded the commander's plan to eliminate them…perhaps they had anticipated the commander attacking their own objective as well? In such a circumstance, experienced warriors would likely have had a plan ready to deal with the Pool Ship.

An inquiry to the Controller manning the sensor console revealed no energy focus on the Blade Ship and no sign of any combat capable vessels in range of attack. If the Animorphs had a backup plan, it did not seem to be very effective. The weapons officer relaxed as the Blade Ship passed into z-space for the interstellar leg of their escape. It was just as likely that the cry they heard had to do with some dispute among the humans in their moment of triumph. He smiled to himself at the thought of his enemies throwing away their victory in squabbles over the spoilers.

It didn't matter to them anymore. No one aboard the Blade Ship would ever return to Earth again.


End file.
